Tokyo Bound: New Zealand Tabs Tanner For Olympics
April 16, 2021 | Track & Field
SEATTLE - Second-year Husky Sam Tanner is officially on his way to the Olympic Games. The New Zealand native will become the first Husky since Ja'Warren Hooker in 2000 to qualify for the Olympics while still a collegiate student-athlete, when he lines up for the 1,500-meters in Tokyo's Olympic Stadium.
Ever since hitting the 1,500-meter Olympic Standard, and simultaneously setting the Collegiate Record, with his sensational 3:34.72 time at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix back on Feb. 13, it's just been a formality that Tanner would be named to the New Zealand National Team Olympic Games Roster, but that bridge was crossed today with the announcement by New Zealand Athletics of the initial 15-athlete roster.
Tanner will be the 31st Olympian in the history of Husky Track & Field, dating all the way back to American sprinter Ira Courtney at the 1912 Stockholm Games. At the most recent Games, in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Washington was represented by Jeremy Taiwo, in the decathlon for Team USA, and Diamara Planell Cruz in the pole vault for Puerto Rico.
Tanner's first round for the 1,500-meters will come on August 3. He will be the first Husky ever competing in the men's 1,500-meters at the Olympics.
Ever since hitting the 1,500-meter Olympic Standard, and simultaneously setting the Collegiate Record, with his sensational 3:34.72 time at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix back on Feb. 13, it's just been a formality that Tanner would be named to the New Zealand National Team Olympic Games Roster, but that bridge was crossed today with the announcement by New Zealand Athletics of the initial 15-athlete roster.
Tanner will be the 31st Olympian in the history of Husky Track & Field, dating all the way back to American sprinter Ira Courtney at the 1912 Stockholm Games. At the most recent Games, in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Washington was represented by Jeremy Taiwo, in the decathlon for Team USA, and Diamara Planell Cruz in the pole vault for Puerto Rico.
Tanner's first round for the 1,500-meters will come on August 3. He will be the first Husky ever competing in the men's 1,500-meters at the Olympics.
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